Today, I was faced with a predicament. Our community is open to only our staff and customers. One customer parted ways with us yesterday - as we are a software company, the separation is a simple switch off of our service.
This customer has been unhappy, mainly because of a price increase. Over the last 5/6 months he’s taken time to express his feelings in our community several times and it’s been tough having only launched 8 months ago to have to manage this but, as we know as community managers, we have to take the rough with the smooth.
Today I couldn’t decide whether to ban him from the community, of which I have full vindication as it’s a customer community anyway, or whether to let him stay, and invite him to still contribute only relevant, helpful comments/insights - which I know he is capable of as I’ve seen glimpses of this from him.
Sooooo, after much deliberation…..I’ve chickened out and am banning him based on a further report from his CSM that his offboarding isn’t going smoothly. .
I strongly believe that a company can change a customers’ mind and attitude with the right personal sentiment, and in my company we do sometimes welcome back customers that previously left us. But, 8 months into my community, I don’t feel it’s strong enough to leave this one to chance!
On the flip side of this, 1 hour ago, another ex-customer who IS still in our community (because keeping on top of users’ inter-company movements is hugely manual without SSO 
) and who now writes for an industry publication, has created a post asking for other members’ input on a particular topic that happens to be the focus of our new major product feature release. So this is perfect for some side community-generated use cases and networking.
Just thought I’d share this experience here. How have you handled instances of disgruntled customers? What actions did you take, and what outcomes where there?
Thanks
I am curious - I think you have House of Rules, what rule did the user break?
We dont ban anyone if they obey the rules. Banning should be the very last option anyways.
They can critisize us and it is totally fine. We hear them, no matter are they unhappy about the prizing or the service itself or something else.
If user isnt happy he/she will be complaining anyways and will definitely do it elsewhere. Where you dont have possibility to try make him/her change his/hers mind.
You have to be patient. I know it is really hard job. To explain each and every time. Tell the story, open the facts. Say thanks for the feedback he gives. One by one. Keep in mind that ~9% of visitors participate sometimes and ~90% visitors are just lurking in the background. Actions you do, good or worse, there are bunch of people who are just observing how your brand takes care of difficult situations.
BTW, have you invited that user to participate some of your (developing) projects? If he can participate, share opinions and give feedback and be a insider, it might change his mind.
And last, it is possible that he will keep posting negative posts. It is possible that you cant change him. Some day he will leave, or not. But I think that is something you have to accept. Sorry 
9/10 customers are observers rather than active users of the community - that is good reminder. I make sure I prioritise tricky feedback and handle it in the best way because, as you say, it’s the observers who are seeing how the brand reacts in these circumstances.
You could create a role of “former customer” and add it to your gamification, so that it appears by his profile name - and just assign this role to all former customers moving forward.
I do this with our employees that move on. They can still use the community (we’re not private) but it’s clear that they are no longer with the company. For me, it just provides clarity about who is responding, but it might help color any comments they make in the future.
I’d say
Here, answered a similar thread in detail today
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